http://www.decibelmagazine.com/featured ... -kentucky/

"Any time we receive a note promising music that “marries traditional coal mining songs with harsh, expansive black metal” we’re intrigued. And Panopticon’s “Kentucky” is sort of the metal equivalent of a William Faulkner novel: dense, multifacted but also soulful. The album, due in June from Handmade Birds/Pagan Flames, touches on the difficulty and despair of American Appalachia, as well as the spirit of the place. There’s also banjos, but this album won’t remind you of the theme from Deliverance. Check out “Bodies Over The Falls” below."

Sounds very upbeat with some cool melodies, tinges of the "blackgaze" elements present on the last album, and of course his trademark banjo playing reminiscent of the bluegrass sections on "Collapse". Definitely a change of tone from Social Disservices, which is easily his darkest work. Thoughts?

EDIT:

CoF posted a link to a second track on Hammer Smashed Sound: http://www.hammersmashedsound.com/2012/ ... aming.html

Everything is great except for the flute. Something about how it's being played or recorded clashes with the rest of the music in a very distracting way.

I approve of this.

Wow, this is fantastic! Definitely picking it up whenever the preorder opens. Also, I think the flute fits very well and doesn't clash whatsoever. I'm curious to see if it will be present on the rest of the album.

Tried to listen to this yesterday but the audio player wasn't working for me.

Will try again later today.

It's ok. The metal is pretty weak, but the bluegrass part is nice. Not as good as the bluegrass part from the previous album. Hopefully they'll give up on metal and make a bluegrass album.

Sounds pretty damn good to me. Definitely excited for the next album, gonna have to pre-order it as soon as I can when it comes up. Kinda sounds like a combination of the more Folk/Bluegrass material from "Collapse" and the more melodic parts of "Social Disservices".

I just don't quite understand why people say that Panopticon has "bluegrass" moments. It's not bluegrass at all. It sounds more like Explosions in the Sky that just HAPPENS to be played with a banjo.

Might be that it's the thing most audible in the mix, even more audible than the guitars, which I find to be a flaw.

All right stuff either way, nothing that grabs me intensely though.

Sweet Jesus, this made my day. This song is awesome, yeah sounds like a mix of Collapse and the best parts of Social Disservices. A great one man band, especially considering how prolific he is. I think that Social Disservices was a slight dip in quality, but this sounds amazing. Not as good as Collapse, but I don't expect him to outdo that. I hope this comes out on some kind of special vinyl, I'd buy that in a second.

Finally got around to listening to this, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely looking forward to hearing the whole album.

Another new song: Black Soot And Red Blood

Hopefully this isn't vinyl-only...

I don't think it is.

Haven't heard the song yet -- but I did find out from Pagan Flames that the CD version will be released towards the end of the year.

Black Soot and Red Blood is sounding fucking incredible right now, even better than "Bodies Over the Falls"

Agreed. I thought the first song was good, but this new one is incredible. I love the whole rant over the acoustic section part. This album is going to be so awesome. Can't wait till the whole thing is out.

The album cover is a damn good one.

I've seen Panopticon's name being tossed around a lot these past couple years, but never took the time to listen to anything. These 2 tracks the OP posted are nothing short of spectacular. Some really fresh juice being stirred up here. Instant vinyl pre-order and further discovery awaits.

Agreed about Black Soot and Red Blood being amazing, gonna pre-order the vinyl today hopefully.

First time listening to Panopticon properly. Was impressed. Would pre-order the vinyl but I have no money!

First, third, 5th, and last song on the album are 100% bluegrass. Two of those are actually traditional bluegrass renditions.

Wow, I thought both songs were fantastic, but Black Soot is just stunning. Man, I'm so pumped for the new record, I feel like playing Disservices all night, and maybe some Collapse as well.

I reccomend you guys check out the split with Wheels Within Wheels. Though WWW's songs sort of go nowhere, Panopticon's share really develops into that soulful, epic and expansive sound that seems to have crossed into Kentucky. A good counterbalance to Collapse and Social Disservices.

The Skagos / Panopticon split is definitely my favorite.

Haha, Austin himself said that's his favorite release, and that "Watching You" is the song he would choose to represent the band as a whole. I need to check that one out as well.

The Wheels Within Wheels split is great, although I feel Austin's clean vocals are a bit underwhelming. As for Wheels going nowhere, I kinda see what you mean, but I don't think its a bad thing. I like it for the same reason I like ambient - it sets up an atmosphere you can lose yourself in.

As for the Skagos split, pure gold. Like I said in my review of it, if you even have a remote interest in black metal you need to check it out. While Panopticon's side is truly awesome, Skagos's is some of the best black metal I've heard in my life. The experimental non-metal parts are amazing and are totally original for a black metal band. I can't wait till all of Anarchic is released.

Got my copy of the album today, intense record and beautiful, gatefold packaging.

These shitty pictures don't do it justice.

That looks sweet! Too bad I have no money to buy this at the moment... doubt they'd still have copies at the start of July when I get some money!

Eagerly awaiting my copy of the new album.

Oh my, it looks beautiful! Hopefully my copy is on the way to me to!

Has anyone who pre-ordered this received their copies of the album yet?

Pagan Flames has shipped theres.

https://www.facebook.com/paganflames

that link didn't work for me, but thanks for the heads up.

Anybody holding back for the cd release of this great album will be interested to know that the pre-order is up on the pagan flame website and due for release early Feb, ordered has been placed!

It's about time. This is one of my favorite projects, and I've been resisting the urges to listen to it (with the exception of a few songs) so that I can get a hold of the full album.